CCR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6iRNVwslM4
Small House of Everything
Friday, May 8, 2020
FORGOTTEN BOOK: THIS ONE WILL KILL YOU
This One Will Kill You, edited by Alfred Hitchcock (1971)
It should come as no surprise that Alfred Hitchcock never edited a thing. The Hitchcock name was popular and a number of publishers cashed in on that fact and licensed the name. A long series of ghost editors, including Don Ward. Robert Arthur, Hal Masur, Henry Viet, Peter Haining, and persons unknown, produced a long string of anthologies from 1945's Suspense Stories (Dell) on. It was not until 1976 that named editors , beginning with Eleanor Sullivan and, later Cathleen Jordan, appeared on Hitchcock anthologies; this was with regularly-spaced anthologies of stories from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. (AHMM was founded in 1956 by HSD Publications; it is still alive today after changing publishers first, in 1975 with Davis Publications, then in 1992 by Dell Magazines.)
A slew of paperback "Hitchcock" anthologies appeared in the 70s by Dell Publishing, each mining past issues of AHMM for its contents. The magazine was noted for fast, clever, and ultimately forgettable stories that covered the range of mystery and crime fiction, often with an ironic twist at the end. Midlist writers and short story specialists filled each issue. The Dell paperbacks, using AHMM as its source, were basically interchangeable -- entertaining, slight, with nothing to make one anthology stand out from another.
There also a series of paperback anthologies published solely in England and ghost-edited by Peter Haining. Which brings us to This One Will Kill You, reportedly edited by Haining but published first by Dell before being published in British paperback the following year. The lineup features some of AHMM's most popular authors including Jack Ritchie (who had over 100 stories published in the magazine), James Holding, John Lutz, Henry Slesar, C. B. Gilford, and Robert Colby. Ritchie wrote short stories exclusively, while Holding and Gilford mainly wrote short stories; others were noted for their novels as well as their prodigious short story output. Richard Deming, John Lutz, Ed Lacy, and Hal Ellson -- all represented here -- were (and, in the case of Lutz, are) well-regarded for their novels.
It's is hard to pick the best from the anthology's tales. All are good, but none are outstanding. In other words, this and other Dell anthologies are basically comfort food -- nourishing but not memorable. Luckily, we all need comfort food from time to time.
The contents:
It should come as no surprise that Alfred Hitchcock never edited a thing. The Hitchcock name was popular and a number of publishers cashed in on that fact and licensed the name. A long series of ghost editors, including Don Ward. Robert Arthur, Hal Masur, Henry Viet, Peter Haining, and persons unknown, produced a long string of anthologies from 1945's Suspense Stories (Dell) on. It was not until 1976 that named editors , beginning with Eleanor Sullivan and, later Cathleen Jordan, appeared on Hitchcock anthologies; this was with regularly-spaced anthologies of stories from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. (AHMM was founded in 1956 by HSD Publications; it is still alive today after changing publishers first, in 1975 with Davis Publications, then in 1992 by Dell Magazines.)
A slew of paperback "Hitchcock" anthologies appeared in the 70s by Dell Publishing, each mining past issues of AHMM for its contents. The magazine was noted for fast, clever, and ultimately forgettable stories that covered the range of mystery and crime fiction, often with an ironic twist at the end. Midlist writers and short story specialists filled each issue. The Dell paperbacks, using AHMM as its source, were basically interchangeable -- entertaining, slight, with nothing to make one anthology stand out from another.
There also a series of paperback anthologies published solely in England and ghost-edited by Peter Haining. Which brings us to This One Will Kill You, reportedly edited by Haining but published first by Dell before being published in British paperback the following year. The lineup features some of AHMM's most popular authors including Jack Ritchie (who had over 100 stories published in the magazine), James Holding, John Lutz, Henry Slesar, C. B. Gilford, and Robert Colby. Ritchie wrote short stories exclusively, while Holding and Gilford mainly wrote short stories; others were noted for their novels as well as their prodigious short story output. Richard Deming, John Lutz, Ed Lacy, and Hal Ellson -- all represented here -- were (and, in the case of Lutz, are) well-regarded for their novels.
It's is hard to pick the best from the anthology's tales. All are good, but none are outstanding. In other words, this and other Dell anthologies are basically comfort food -- nourishing but not memorable. Luckily, we all need comfort food from time to time.
The contents:
- "Jonathan Craig" (Frank E. Smith), "Six Skinny Coffins" (AHMM, January 1969)
- Richard Deming, "The Clock Is Cuckoo" (AHMM, May 1969)
- "Jack Ritchie" (John George Reitci), "Plan 19" (AHMM, April 1966)
- James Holding, "The Misopedist" (AHMM, April 1968)
- John Lutz, "Fair Shake" (AHMM, April 1968)
- Henry Slesar, "Item" (AHMM, July 1962)
- "Ed Lacy" (Leonard S. Zinberg), "Curtain Speech" (AHMM, February 1962)
- Richard Hardwick, "His Brother's Caper" (AHMM, March 1966)
- Robert Edmond Alter, "The Shunned House" (AHMM, May, 1966)
- C. B. Gilford, "Don't Call It Murder" (AHMM, April 1966)
- Michael Brett [not the "Michael Brett" that is a pseudonym of Douglas Sanderson, and not the "Michael Brett that is a pseudonym of Leslie Frederick Brett], "Comfort, In a Land of Strangers" (AHMM, April 1969)
- Hal Ellson, "Where Credit Is Due" (AHMM, June 1969)
- Fletcher Flora, "Variations on an Episode" (AHMM, February 1967)
- Robert Colby, "Voice in the Night" (AHMM, April 1969)
In this time of pandemic, self-isolation, and a government that is trying open the economy prematurely, comfort food can be sustaining.
Thursday, May 7, 2020
BROADWAY IS MY BEAT: THE STEVE COURTNEY MURDER CASE
Broadway Is My Beat aired on CBS Radio from 1949 to 1954 and was originally aired from New York with Anthony Ross playing police detective Danny Clover. When the half-hour show moved its production to Hollywood in July 1949, Ross was replaced by Larry Thor as Clover.
"The Steve Courtney Murder Case" aired on June 23, 1950. The episode was produced and directed by Elliott Lewis from a script by Morton S. Fine and David Friedkin.
Broadway: "from Times Square to Columbus Circle -- the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world."
Enjoy exploring Broadway with Danny Clover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD4ANtlDZe0
"The Steve Courtney Murder Case" aired on June 23, 1950. The episode was produced and directed by Elliott Lewis from a script by Morton S. Fine and David Friedkin.
Broadway: "from Times Square to Columbus Circle -- the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world."
Enjoy exploring Broadway with Danny Clover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD4ANtlDZe0
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
MUSIC FROM THE PAST: ROCK-A-BYE YOUR BABY WITH A DIXIE MELODY
I was curious as to what the top songs were in 1918, the year of the Spanish Flu. The Number 1 song was "Tiger Rag," recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. This one, recorded by Al Jolson, was Number 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQFW7w6g5j4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQFW7w6g5j4
BAD JOKE WEDNESDAY
Okay. I'm going to tell you a coronavirus joke, but it'll take two weeks for you to get it.
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
MUSIC FROM THE PAST: ONCE IN A LIFETIME
From Stop the World I Want to Get Off, here's Anthony Newley.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AIOkrxMPEQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AIOkrxMPEQ
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)